Halfling Encampment
Overview Halflings is an XP centric area with a few decent pops/customs. Since its recent expansion, it is divided up into four basic areas, each of which has its own flavor of mobs: halflings, orcs, dwarves, and vyans. The area has two entrances - one off the Northern Sea Trail (the traditional entrance) and one east of the Great Icalah Tree near Cycs. Climb is required for the entrance near Cycs. The mobs are generally easy for their XP, as they are often resting or sleeping before combat. General Strategy Halflings The halflings start asleep, except for one. They do not detect hidden. Kill the rester first, then clear the sleepers. Kill the pony last. Most of the mobs can call other (awake) members of their group, so if you start with the pony, the resting halfling will likely come find you. The halflings often drop steel short swords, which are great level 1 weapons. The resting halfling drops the hammer 'Kindness' which is a decent weapon that can heal its wielder. The pony is tamable and drops saddlebags. You can reach the Orc area by moving brush in the room south and east from the pony. Orcs The orcs will be resting during the day and will be asleep at night. They do not detect hidden but they are aggressive. Though it seems most of them call, their call seems to have a small radius - except for the commander - he calls all the others. Suggested kill order is the caster first, others in any order, and commander last. In the room where the commander loads, you can "search fur". The "golden bear" skin pops here, its part of a level 10 Chiiron custom for a damage item. Someone who can actually make the custom can fill in details later. :) The other part of the custom comes from the room where two orcs are resting/sleeping. In that room, "get sack" and if the sack pops with the lapel pin, thats the other part of the previously mentioned custom. The commander drops a heavy spear which seems ok if heavy spears are your thing. You can reach the Dwarves by moving the log in the room south of the orc commander. Dwarves The dwarves are drunk, and seem to fall down a lot on their own, and fall asleep. None detect, and they are not aggressive with two exceptions: the drunk mule, and the midget dwarf. Take out the caster first, the leader last, and the others in between. The leader drops a two handed axe 'Scald'. To go to the Vyans, head to the northeast corner and climb down... twice. Vyans Stop at the ledge between the Dwarves and the Vyans. Go west two, and search crevice for some meh goodies. Searching the remains in the room east of the crevice can have interesting consequences. Continue to climb down to get to the valley floor, and the Vyans. The Vyans are much more wary of attacks than the other groups. When the area resets, all but the scouts are resting or sleeping. Just north of where you climb down is a hidden scout. There is another scout that will jump on you if you go around the tree unhidden. Additionally, if you head along the north side toward the Vyans there is a trip wire that can set off the alarm. If the alarm is set off, or if the scouts attack you before you attack them, then the other Vyans will stand up and start to wander. Many of them hide and the leader calls. Its much easier if you don't raise the alarm. You can bait the first scout into combat by going into the room hidden, then unhiding. This will not raise the alarm. If you climb onto the fallen tree to the west (or just come in from the back entrance), the north space of the tree is where the second scout sits waiting. If you attack him there, no alarm is raised. Finally, the tripwire can be cut, but this can fail. The vyan leader drops a level 15 polearm 'Thrice Cursed'. Also in his room, you can "search folder" after kill for a random scroll, some of which are good. In this same section of the wood are a pair of serpentfolk, and a cave bear. The serpentfolk are slightly harder than the vyans. The cave bear is totally out of the area depth, instant death for anyone running the zone at level.